Opposition Swept Both By-Elections

The opposition Grand National Party (GNP) swept to victory in the two parliamentary by-elections on Thursday.
Lee Hoi Chang, President of the GNP, won a landslide victory in Seoul's Songpa-A district over Kim Hee Wan from the smaller party in the ruling coalition, the United Liberal Democrats(ULD). Lee took 61.5 percent (42,901 votes) of the vote to Kim's 37.0 percent (25,790 votes).
Another GNP candidate, Ahn Sang Soo, won 54.9 percent (38,557 votes) of the ballot compared to 41.8 percent (29,333 votes) for the ruling National Congress for New Politics (NCNP) candidate Song Young Gil in the Keyang-Kanghwa-A precinct in Inchon.
Poll-watchers attribute the comfortable victory of the opposition party in this election, which was expected to be a close contest, mainly to the antipathy of voters to the ruling camp in the wake of the 'clothes scandal'.
As a result, the GNP now has a total of 136 seats, while the NCNP and ULD each keep their 105 and 54 seats respectively. There are four non-partisan seats.
Jooan Kang : jooan@joongang.co.kr